Continuing yesterday’s rant on television trivia games. Today will be short, as I’ve lost my train of thought somewhat; rest assured that I am going somewhere with this.
Prizes, i.e. money, are a reward, not a goal.
Millionaire seems to give away lots of money just to be able to say that they’re giving away lots of money. When it started, I held up Jeopardy as being more pure
; it wasn’t about the money, it was about playing well. That’s why the recent change in the Jeopardy question values bugs me more than almost any other change the show has made; suddenly players are walking away with more than $15000 for games that are… well, let’s say uninspiring
to be polite. Despite its title, Win Ben Stein’s Money
isn’t about winning the cash; it’s about beating him at his own game. Yambo
, on CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, is another great example of playing a game for the sake of the game.
Finally, for today, a followup to a comment on part one. Although I’d heard of Mastermind
, I wasn’t familiar with the format (or its origin). It doesn’t fit the second, though: it must be challenging, but not obscure
.
